I have always had rather a soft spot for Michele Campanella
playing Liszt. This dates back to when he was the pianist on
the first LP of Liszt I ever bought – a Pye disc of him playing
the two concertos. With the bi-centenary of Liszt’s birth looming
in the Autumn this is the first of the year’s celebratory sets
that I have encountered. It should be noted however, as with
the bulk of Brilliant Classics releases, these are licensed
re-releases although in this case the provenance is not totally
clear.

Campanella’s own website lists the Wagner transcriptions as
having come from the label P&P Classica which does not ring
any bells - dreadful pun – sorry! - whereas the Verdi transcriptions
disc is listed as ‘edizione privata’. The recordings span nearly
two decades from the Transcendental Studies in 1988 to
the collection of Opera transcriptions from 2005. The consistency
of approach and style is admirable and certainly the passing
years have yet to make any inroads into Campanella’s formidable
technique. Indeed on that score alone the later disc sounds
if anything even more secure than the earlier one. Further artistic
consistency is displayed by the fact that the same engineer
recorded all the discs – Valter Neri – and the same producer
– Monica Leone – oversaw five of the six. Although Campanella
boasts a wide performing repertoire it is with the music of
Liszt that he has been most closely associated. The liner notes
mention that he has 187 Liszt pieces in his repertoire which
he has performed in public over 3000 times. Statistics like
that tend to daunt me ‘dropping in’ on this repertoire; who
am I to comment on the performances of someone with this music
in his genes!

But comment I must. Campanella has contributed the liner-note
to this set where he draws a thread between the superficially
disparate 32 works in this set. He makes two basic but valid
points; the subtle difference between the transcription and
the paraphrase and also, but allied to that, the debate about
when or where does a paraphrase/transcription stop being an
offspring of the originating work and take on a life of its
own. Works from the opposite extremes are on offer here; Beethoven’s
Pastoral Symphony [CD4]is undoubtedly a transcription
albeit a very sophisticated one, at no point does it sound like
anything else except the symphony performed on the piano. Conversely
the Reminiscences de Don Juan [CD6 track 7], without
a shadow of a doubt is a magnificent independent work. Listening
to these discs it bore in on me that I prefer the paraphrase
to the transcription, the latter being more functional and the
former more musical. My hunch might be that Campanella feels
the same too. As mentioned before, CD6 (the 2005 recording)
features some of the most inspired playing in the set so is
it coincidental that this disc also contains four of the biggest
paraphrases presented too? But to take the discs in order. CD1
contains the complete Études d’exécution transcendante. This
is the earliest recording here dating from 1988. Campanella
is very fine but this does occasionally highlight a chosen performance
style that can sound rather heavy-handed or clipped. That this
is a choice is evident from the way that this is often juxtaposed
with playing of melting lyricism and subtle rubato. Try the
end of track 2 Molto Vivace as it moves into the opening
of track 3 Paysage. Another example – after a truly brilliant
opening flourish the main theme of Mazeppa [track 4]
is presented with a rather heavy foursquare feel. Another passing
thought is how in the intervening twenty three years this repertoire
has become far more common both in concert and on disc. By definition
Campanella is facing stiffer competition. For example hidden
under the far from inspiring title and artwork of 99 Most
Essential Liszt Masterpieces available as a download only
for £4.99 is the BIS-sourced version by Freddie Kempf who while
lacking some of Campanella’s extraordinary articulate qualities
does present a more surgingly romantic interpretation. Overall
though this is an impressive and compelling opening to the set.

On discs 2, 3 and 5 Campanella plays an 1892 Steinway Model
D Grand, discs 1 and 4 are other Steinways of the same model
and disc 6 is a Yamaha from the same collection as the ‘old’
Steinway. Clearly Campanella has given a great deal of care
and thought to the sound he requires from his instruments. As
mentioned earlier the way in which these discs have been engineered
as well as the piano’s timbre as caught by the microphones is
remarkably consistent. I find the lower range of the Steinways
a fraction clangorous but that is a matter of taste rather than
fault.

Discs 2 and3 form a logical pair consisting of several – but
not all – of Liszt’s Wagner transcriptions. Campanella in his
note points out the close musical and personal ties between
the two composers and that these works reflect their mutual
influence. The later the work of both composers the more interesting
as music it becomes. Hence the Phantasiestück on themes from
Rienzi, [CD 2 track 1] impressive though it is as an exercise
in virtuosity and dispatched as such by Campanella engages me
little on any other level. Highlights are a beautifully controlled
and voiced Abendstern from Tannhäuser [CD
2 track 2] the Liebestod and Parsifal Feierlicher
Marsch zum beiligen Graal [CD 3 tracks 6 and 7] although
the Tristan excerpt does suffer from the clanging piano
when the dynamic is high.

Disc 4 brought me back to earth with a bump. In this most pictorial
of all Beethoven’s works the absence of the orchestra is sorely
felt for all Liszt’s pianistic trickery. But the main problem
is Campanella’s interpretation. Elsewhere I will defer to his
insight and understanding but this sounds plain wrong. And plain
is the word I return to; too much of this performance sounds
at best perfunctory. The worst passage is a second movement
Andante molto moto“By the Brook” [my
highlighting] which simply becomes becalmed. Most versions whether
orchestral or pianistic seem to come in the wide range of 9
to 12 minutes. Campanella is an unbelievable 18:36 which neither
he nor the music - let alone the transcription - can sustain.
This is one of those head-scratching-how-can-you-think-this-works
moments. This inertia carries on into the third movement “merry-making”
which contains the worst example in the set of the plodding
squareness that can affect Campanella’s playing. This is not
only slow as far as tempo is concerned but lacking in any kind
of grace, wit or humour. After a bludgeoning storm the final
hymn has an initial lyricism - and ‘right’ tempo - missing earlier
but the climaxes hector rather than inspire – in part due to
the transcription itself which burdens the player with all but
impossible fistfuls of notes.

Fortunately the final two discs of this set return to much more
pleasurable territory. Perhaps Campanella is more naturally
at ease with the operatic origins of these Verdi paraphrases
but they immediately feel much more ‘right’ than the preceding
Beethoven. Highlights here are a stormily troubled Miserere
from Il trovatore,displaying Campanella’s
great gift for carefully balancing leading lines and subsidiary
material within complex textures. There’s also a gently thoughtful
Agnus Dei from the Requiem – one of the real gems in
the whole set and a version I had never heard - and the Rigoletto
paraphrase notable for the playful excess of its treatment
of some of these favourite melodies. Again, I am perplexed by
the playful perfection of Campanella’s performance here as opposed
to the apparent insensitivity elsewhere. Clearly these are artistic
choices to which I am not fully attuned. I did note though that
the return to the 1892 Steinway brings a specific tonal quality
that others might enjoy more than I. As a programme in itself
disc 6 is the most wholly satisfying of the set. It finds Campanella
in consistently impressive form playing an instrument best suited
– to my ears at least – to music of this range of dynamic and
tonal colour. Possibly the breadth of composers brought together
from Mozart to Mendelssohn and Gounod gives Liszt a little more
range to work with. I like the quirky jauntiness that Campanella
finds in the opening paraphrase on the famous Mendelssohn Wedding
March. However this is very much Liszt’s conception as can
be gleaned in the delicate arpeggiating accompaniment. This
soon builds into a variation more predictably grandiose but
the impression given is more light-hearted than one often associates
with Liszt. Then in a piece of outrageous arranging he manages
to combine elements of the scherzo material from the overture
with the original wedding march. I have a total weakness for
this kind of musical excess and Campanella sounds in his element
too. Indeed the whole disc is a triumph and possibly good enough
to consider buying the set on its strengths alone – since six
discs at Brilliants Classics prices are near enough one and
a bit full price discs. As mentioned at the start of the review
the Réminiscences de Don Juan is little short of stunning.

This is a tricky set to know quite how to position within a
competitive marketplace. Admirers of Michele Campanella need
not hesitate unless they will be duplicating the earlier releases
of the same discs. For general Liszt collectors this is likely
to involve some degree of duplication. With the exception of
the performances on the final disc – which are uniformly superb
– and the Beethoven disc – which should be avoided – these are
all fine and individual performances but ones that are unlikely
to replace many favourites in an existing collection. Presentation
is in typical Brilliant Classics mode – a box with each disc
in its own cardboard slip which lists repertoire and basic recording
information. The box does benefit from a rather brief but interesting
new liner note written by the pianist. The main value of this
box is the way it documents a very fine musician’s continuing
exploration of the works of one of the great pianist-composers.

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